Horace r



(No Model.)

H. R. ALLEN. LEG BRAGB.

No. 559,835. Patented May 12, 1896.

ff M22/Mm UNITED STATES PATENT HORACE R. ALLEN, OF INDIANAPOLS, INDIANA.

LEG-BRACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 559,835, dated May 12,1896.

Application filed November 5,1894. Serial No. 527,865. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern.:

Be it known that I, Hennes R. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Leg-Braces; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

rihis invention relates to improvements in appliances to be used in thepractice of orthopedic surgery, and has special reference toimprovements in braces for the treatment of patients afflicted withstiffness of the hip, knee, or ankle joints, the obj ects of theinvention being, iirst, to provide a brace that may be secured in a iirmand substantial manner to the aiiiieted member and may be adjusted toconform to the shape of the leg; second, that may be adjusted by smallsuccessive changes to produce gradual extension of the leg, and asextension is produced will retain and hold the parts until they arethoroughly adapted to their changed condition, and, third, to provideself-adj usting pads that will adapt themselves to the uneven surfacesof the body, so as to prevent bruising the parts by giving an evenpressure to the whole surface covered and enabling a greater amount ofpressure to be endured without chaiing or bruising the flesh. The objectalso is to provide pads that will not become hardened or packed by theperspiration of the body.

l accomplish the objects of this invention by the mechanism illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in sideelevation of a complete brace constructed in accordance with thisinvention and shows same removed from the body of the patient to betreated. Fig. 2 is a front View of a portion of the brace, showing theLipper part of the brace from a point below the knee-joint. Fig. 3 is adetail in perspective of the rubber from which the hip-pads areconstructed. Fig. Li shows the tube with its ends tied and the tubeinflated to form the pad. One end is shown broken away to show the solidplug inserted, through which the injection will be made. Fig. 5 is adetail. in perspective of a portion of the pad complete and applied tothe brace, the figure showing the manner in which the pad is covered andsccuredby such covering to the brace. Fig. G is a top view of theknee-pad and shows a portion broken away and sectioned to expose the lugformed in the wall through which the instrument for infiating the pad isinserted.

Similar letters of .reference in the drawings refer to like partsthroughout the several views.

A is the plate which underlies the foot or shoe of the person wearingthe brace and ywill correspond in area and size approximately with soleof the foot or shoe.

B and B are standards which are fastened rigidly to the plate A,one'upon each side of said plate, and are projected upwardly upon eachside of the patients leg to points upon or near the hip and are theresecured by a `hinged connection with a crescent-shaped pad, which willbe hereinafter more fullydescribed.

a is a strap fastened to the shoe-plate A and by which the foot isstrapped to the plate. The standards B and B' will cach be in twosections hinged together at B2 opposite the knee of the patient in orderthat the brace may be bent to conform to the crooked condition of theleg. Metal half-bands C, O', O2, and O3, which will be curved to therear, will connect the standards. These bands will be lined on theinside with cloth or other soft material c. The bands and lining will befastened to the standards by means of two rivets through each end of thebands and the standards. Opposite each of the bands C", O2, and O3 andpassing around the front of the leg are the straps D in two partsbuckled together, as shown. The ends of the straps are secured to thestandards by means of the same rivets which secure the bands O, C2, andC3. As shown in the drawings, my practice is to fashion the ends of thestraps into Y-shaped patterns and pass the rivets through the ends ofthe Ys, whereby each end is secured by two rivets, which keep the strapsfrom slipping up or down out of alinement with the band on the otherside of the leg.

E are catches riveted to the bands C and C2.

E is a threaded bolt, having a iinger E2 piv- IOC otally secured to itsupper end, the said finger being adapted to slide under the catch E onthe band C2.

E" is a barrel having a like iinger pivotally secured to its lower end,which fingeris adapted to be removably secured to the catch on the bandC.

F is a threaded nut working onthe bolt E. The bolt will be insertedwithin the hollow barrel, and the amount of projection within the barrelwill be regulated by the position of the nut upon the bolt. Thisconstruction enables the angle of the standards at the bend opposite thepatients knee to be lesscned gradually and the parts locked in apositive manner.

G is the crescent-shaped pad which terminates the standards at the top.It partially encircles the leg, extending around the back of same, andis provided with the strap G', which passes around the front of the leg.The strap is in two sections,\vl1ich are buckled together and by whichthe pressure of the pad against the leg may be regulated. The connectionof the pad with the standards is as follows: The upper ends of thestandards terminate in the loops a2. The barrels II2 have their lowerends riveted to the standards, and the upper ends of the barrels areprojected through the loops, thereby making a secure attachment of thebarrels to the standards. 'The threaded bolts I and I have their lowerends inserted into the barrels, and the length of the inserted portionis regulated by means of the nuts j. The upper end of the bolt I issecured by means of the rivet i to the outside end of the pad, formingahinged connection therewith. The bolt Il terminates in a hook which isprojected through an eye depending from the pad, as shown in Fig. 2. Bythe above construction the length of the standards can be adjusted. Thepad G comprises a base-plate G, of plate metal, which is bent to thedesired shape. This will be overlaid by the pad proper, which will besecured to the base and held in place thereby. The outer end g willconsist of a cloth cover filled with cotton or other suitable material;but the pad upon the inner end and extending to about the pointindicated by the dotted lines will consist of an inflated rubber tubefilled with air, or preferably with water or glycerin, which will make avery soft and self-adjusting pad. The construction of this pad will beof the following peculiar nature: The rubber will be furnished inlengths of several feet and will be cut oft in smaller lengths accordingto the size of the pad which is to be made. The ends of the sectionsconstitutin g the pad will be tied together in the manner shown in Fig.4, and in one of the ends a rubber plug L, of solid material, will beinserted and the tube tied around it. Through this plug the nozzle ofthe injector may be inserted and the pad filled to the proper capacity.The withdrawal of the nozzle will not leave an outlet for the escape ofthe filling of the pad, because of the closing up of the opening by theelasticity of the plug. The pad is then placed in the desired positionupon the plate and secured in that position by stitching a covering ofcloth over it, as is shown in Fig. 5.

M is a knee-pad which rests upon the kneecap. The pad is shown in adetached view in Fig. (i. This pad will be molded of rubber in the shapeshown and will be provided with the solid lug m, through which thenozzle of the injector may be introduced substantially as described inthe case of the rubber plug in the other formof pad.

M represents a leather blanket, to which the pad is fastened by a clothcovering stitched to the blanket. The straps M2 pass around thestandards B and I3. They are in two sections buckled together and aretightened by means of said buckles. The utility of this constructionwill be apparent from the following considerations: In the treatment ofa patient by means of the leg-brace it is frequently necessary to varyor adjust the degree of inflation of the pads to correspond with thechanges in location of the different parts. It is very desirable thatthis should be done while the brace is being used-evidently arequirement of no small diiiiculty. For instance, it would be quiteimpossible to accomplish this merely by tying the end of the rubbertubing, as is shown on the right of Fig. 4, for with such a constructionwhen it was desired to further inflate the pad or to partially collapsethe same this could only be done by untying the cincture around the end,which would permit the entire escape of the liquid from the pad. The padwould then have to be refilled with liquid to the desired extent andthen again tied up. The manifest inconvenience of such a method ofvariation I have avoided by my present device, in which the inflation ofthe pad can be adjusted and water can be added or subtracted in anydesired amount without removing the cincture around the compressibleelastic plug.

I claiml. A pad for braces constructed of thin rubber material formingthe walls and having the outlet at one end iilled by a plug of rubber orlike compressible and elastic material, said plug being pierced topermit the insertion of the nozzle of an injector, and being held undercompression as by a suitable cincture7 whereby the perforation isclosed, said plug being of sufficient thickness and eompressibility topermit the insertion of the nozzle of an injector while still held undercompression by said cincture, substantially as described.

2. A pad for braces constructed of rubber tubing cut transversely intothe desired lengths and closed by constricting the ends by suitablecinctures, in combination with a plug of rubber or like elastic andcompressible material inserted in one of said ends, perforated toreceive the nozzle of an injector,

IOO

IIO

and under compression by said cincture 'whereby said perforation isclosed, said plug being of suiicicnt thickness and compressibility topermit the insertion of the nozzle of an injector While still held undercompression by said cincture, substantially as described.

In a pad for leg-braces, the combination of the base-plate G4, the clothcover, the cotton or like padding at one end thereof, and the inflatedrubber tube occupying the other portion of the cover, substantially asdescribed.

4. In a legbraee, the combination with the standards B and B' and thebands C and C2 said bands having the catches E, of the threaded bolthavin g the hinged finger to engage the catch on one of the bands, theuut Working upon the bolt, and the barrel having HORACE R. ALLEN.lVitnesses:

JOSEPH A. MINTURN, T. F. MEANEY.

